Here are just a few of the NICE environmental and energy bills we hope will be coming back in the new legislative session starting January 1.
And, they all have one thing in common, see if you can spot it!
-- Bipartisan - Pipeline Safety Bills: Both the Senate and House have a long list of bipartisan pipeline safety legislation pending for obvious reasons-- Mariner East 2 Pipeline construction, a Beaver County pipeline explosion and more. These incidents have raised serious issues about pipeline routes, safety plans and much more. Yet, only one pipeline bill moved in the last session, even though these bills have bipartisan sponsorship. The prime sponsors of many of these bills in the Senate-- Sen. Tom Killion (R-Delaware) and Andy Dinniman (D-Chester)-- will not be returning in January, but we hope others will pick up the bills. Read more here. 90 percent of Pennsylvania voters want the Senate and House to pass legislation preventing oil and gas pipeline accidents. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Program To Fund On-Farm Conservation Measures: Senate Bill 1272 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would create a new Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program administered by the State Conservation Commission and county conservation districts to provide grants for on-farm conservation projects. Funding for the program is not included in the bill. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Control Overuse of Fertilizer On Lawns: Senate Bill 915 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) establishes standards for the application of fertilizer to turf, provides for the certification of professional fertilizer applicators and for labeling and an education program. The General Assembly has been working on this bill for nine years. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Need For More Environmental/Conservation Funding: 90 percent of Pennsylvania voters want the Senate and House to provide more funding for environmental restoration and conservation. 89 percent say open spaces, parks and the outdoors has become more important to them because of the pandemic. Pennsylvania voters also overwhelmingly support increasing funding for critical environmental priorities — even if it means raising taxes and fees. Nearly 75 percent of voters support dedicating existing sales tax revenue generated from outdoor recreation activities like hunting and fishing to programs that improve water quality. More than 60 percent of voters support ending the state sales tax exemption for bottled water and using the revenue generated to improve water quality. And 60 percent support a $10 a year tax increase to increase funding for conservation programs. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Reauthorize Federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee: The federal abandoned mine reclamation fee, which provides the bulk of the funding for Pennsylvania’s abandoned mine lands cleanup program, is due to expire in 2021. Environmental, wildlife, states and many other groups support its reauthorization, but Congress is a mess and pressure needs to be brought on them to act. Sen. John Yudichak (I-Luzerne) introduced Senate Resolution 191 and Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) introduced House Resolution 439 to urge Congress to reauthorize the fee and the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund. The General Assembly and Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation need to push Congress to make this happen. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Help Workers, Communities Transition To Cleaner Energy: Senate Bill 15 (Costa-D-Allegheny) which, consistent with existing statutory authority, provides for the adoption of a “Cap and Invest” program to reduce carbon pollution from power plants and for the use of proceeds from the program to protect communities and workers already adversely affected by the changing energy economy, provide low-income assistance with energy bills and promotes clean energy and energy efficiency. Similar legislation was introduced in the House-- House Bill 2856-- by now Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester). Read more here. 72 percent of Pennsylvania voters want the Commonwealth to join a regional cap and invest carbon emissions reduction program. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Community Solar: Both the Senate-- Senate Bill 705 (Scavello-R-Monroe)-- and the House-- House Bill 531 (Kaufer-R-Luzerne)-- have bipartisan legislation authorizing community solar projects which allow neighbors, businesses, farms, and other community members to directly participate in and receive the benefits from a solar project connected to their local electric distribution company’s grid. Doesn’t cost taxpayers anything. Read more here. 80 percent of Pennsylvania voters believe the General Assembly should pass legislation to give consumers the option to enroll in community solar programs. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Act 129 Energy Efficiency Program Expansion: Both the Senate-- Senate Bill 232 (Killion-R-Delaware)-- and House-- House Bill 193 (Quinn-R-Montgomery)-- have introduced bipartisan proposals to expand the Act 129 electric utility energy efficiency program that yielded $6.4 billion in consumer savings and benefits in its first 7 years of operations. Note: Sen. Killion will not be returning in 2021. Read more here from a previous sessions.
-- Bipartisan - Flood Insurance Task Force: The bipartisan House Bill 328 (Warren-D- Bucks) establishing a Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force (House Fiscal Note & Summary) and summary). The federal Flood Insurance Program is vital to protecting Pennsylvania property and businesses. In 2017, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania issued a report saying heavy precipitation events increased by 71 percent over the last 50 years and 831,000 Pennsylvania residents are living at risk on floodplains. It went on to make recommendations for improving the Flood Insurance Program. Read more here.
-- Bipartisan - Lyme Disease Insurance Coverage: The bipartisan House Bill 629 (Rapp-R-Warren) requires health insurers to cover treatment plans for Lyme disease or related tick-borne illnesses as prescribed by a patient’s health care practitioner, regardless if the treatment plan includes short-term or long-term antibiotic treatment (House Fiscal Note & Summary). In the last 7 years, Pennsylvania has ranked highest in the country in the number of confirmed cases of Lyme disease. In 2016 Pennsylvania reported 12,200 cases of Lyme disease, about 40 percent of the nation’s cases. This bill will help patients get the treatment they need as a warming climate increases the threat from tick-borne diseases.
-- Bipartisan - Allow Wildlife Commissions To Set Their Own Fees: Senate Bill 553 (Stefano-R-Fayette) authorizing the Game Commission to set its own fees. A bill was signed into law this year to allow the Fish and Boat Commission to set their own fees-- House Bill 808 (Mehaffie-R- Dauphin) (House Fiscal Note & Summary).
-- Bipartisan - PennDOT-Native Vegetation: House Bill 447 (B.Miller-R-Lancaster) requires PennDOT to plant native vegetation along state highways (House Fiscal Note and summary) is now in the Senate. This would help support PennDOT’s new Adopt-And-Beautify option in the Adopt-A-Highway Program and help implement the agency’s Pollinator Habitat Plan. Read more here.
If you noticed a pattern, all these proposals have bipartisan support, yet they failed to move in the Senate and House or only moved a little.
Acting on these bills would be a great start toward a new era of bipartisan cooperation in the new legislative session.
2020 In Review:
-- Environment & Energy Bills Signed Into Law, Vetoed In 2020
-- This NAUGHTY List Of Bad Environment & Energy Bills Will Be Back Again Next Year
[Posted: December 3, 2020] PA Environment Digest
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